The Korean Peninsula, located within the Eurasian Plate, experiences long intervals between major earthquakes. Dense forests and land use make it difficult to identify traces of past seismic activity. Mongolia, however, shares a similar intraplate crustal environment but its arid climate and expansive exposed terrain preserve surface deformations from ancient earthquakes, keeping records of past major seismic events relatively intact.
The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) announced on May 11 that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Mongolia's Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (IAG) in Ulaanbaatar to strengthen cooperation in earthquake science. The agreement reaffirms a partnership first established in 2019 and provides a framework for stable joint research on earthquakes and active faults over the next five years.
The two institutions will collaborate on joint surveys of major active faults in Mongolia, data sharing, advancement of paleoseismic detection and analysis technologies, professional training programs, and joint workshops and seminars. By combining Mongolia's extensive field data with KIGAM's precision analysis capabilities, the partners plan to accumulate scientific evidence for studying long-period behavior of intraplate earthquakes and enhancing seismic hazard assessments.
KIGAM's Active Tectonics Research Center has conducted joint surveys at major fault zones in Mongolia in cooperation with IAG, building a database of historical earthquake records. In 2022, a multidisciplinary investigation of the Mogod Fault, site of a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 1967, revealed that four strike-slip fault segments and one reverse fault segment ruptured simultaneously. Trench excavations across all five segments enabled analysis of recurrence intervals.
In 2023, researchers enhanced fault investigation techniques at the Bulnai Fault by introducing lake and wetland sediment drilling surveys to complement excavation studies. Starting in 2025, KIGAM will begin surveying the Omnogovi fault zone in southern Mongolia, then progressively collect paleoseismic data from major fault zones in China, Japan, and other East Asian regions to analyze correlations with seismic activity on the Korean Peninsula.
KIGAM is incorporating findings from Mongolia's paleoseismic research into its "Korean Peninsula Potential Earthquake Characteristics Assessment Model" to improve reliability in predicting earthquake magnitude and frequency. As 2025 marks the tenth anniversary of the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, the institute is focusing on advancing the scientific foundation of national earthquake disaster prevention policies and strengthening medium- to long-term earthquake preparedness for public safety.